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Magistrate: Lynnette KimminsProsecutor: LewisSamaritans: Allyson Ball, Sara BuseyVisitors: Notre Dame students led by Lois Martin, No More Deaths; students from Boston University; Western Theological Seminary students.

Monday’s usual packed house with 76 migrants, including 5 women. Three cases were dismissed, one continued, before Kimmins called five at a time before the bench. Kimmins is the newest magistrate and spoke clearly and directly to each migrant she addressed. Two had difficulty understanding the complicated court procedure (one because her headphones were broadcasting both English and Spanish at the same time!) and she took an extraordinary amount of time and patience to be sure they did understand.

One migrant expressed a “credible fear.” Her lawyer put a note to that effect in his file, according to Kimmins, but we only learned about it later as the audience, as usual, couldn’t hear the lawyer at the time.

Migrants today will spend a total of 4650 days in prison, mostly private prisons, at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of ¾ of a million ($743,820).

The magistrate briefly answered questions after court:

“Are there any children here?” “No. Those under age 18 are sent back to their own countries, except for juveniles who are caught carrying drugs.” [NOTE from Barb Lemmon: One clarification for folks from Judge Kimmins statement: Not all unaccompanied minors are just sent home. There are family detentions and shelters where they stay – several here in AZ, even in Tucson.]

“How do migrants who have never been in a courtroom adequately understand OS procedure and what is at stake?” “The lawyers are diligent in explaining the procedure, plea bargain and implications of accepting and not accepting it. Also, I watch each migrant’s face carefully to be sure they understand.”

“What are the pros and cons of OS?” “The pros are shorter prison sentences if they plea bargain, the felony is off their record, and it is a quick process. A con could be if that the migrant doesn’t understand what he is signing.”

“Where do they go after court?” “The migrants are taken to CCA private prison in Florence, AZ, where they are directed to other prisons, except for those with short sentences. They probably will remain in Florence.”

“Do you enjoy your job?” “Yes. I find it enjoyable and gratifying.”

(Lois and I distributed literature to most of the students that argued against the en mass trial of migrants because of the lack of due process (1 minute each before the magistrate), resulting criminal records that make it almost impossible to enter the US legally in the future, and huge cost to the taxpayers.)